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A SERMON 



OCCASIONED 



BY THE DEATH 



or 



MAJOR GEN. ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 



A SERMON, 



OCCASIONED 



BY THE DEATH 



OF 



MAJOR GEN. ALEXANDER HAMILTON, 

WHO WAS KILLED 

BY AARON BURR, ESQ. 

VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 
IN A DUEL, JULY 11, 1804. 

PREACHED, IN CHRIST-CHURCH AND ST. PETER'S, PHILADELPHIA, 
ON SUNDAY, JULY 32d, 1 804, 



BY JAMES ABERCROMBIE, D. D. 

ONE OF THE ASSISTANT MINISTERS OF CHRIST-CHURCH 
AND ST. ?£TER'S. 



PUBLISHEDBY REQUEST. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED, BY H. MAXWELL, NORTH SECOND-STREET, 
OPPOSITE CHRIST-CHURCH. 

1804. 



I 









1M BXCHANGI 

S. E.Bist.'S »1. So** 



"At a Meeting of the citizens of Philadelphia, on Monday July 
16th, agreeably to public notice, for the purpose of adopting proper 
measures for the expression of their grief at the untimely fate of 
their deceased fellow citizen Major Gen. Alexander Hamilton, their 
admiration of his virtues and his talents, and their gratitude for the 
eminent services which as a Soldier and a Statesman he has rendered 
to his country ; " the following, among other resolutions, was pass- 
ed. 

"Resolved, that the clergymen of the several denominations, 
be l'equested to expatiate, on Sunday next, upon the irreligious and 
pernicious tendency of a' custom, which has deprived our country 
of one of her best and most valuable citizens, and has proved so 
destructive to the happiness of his family. 

« THOMAS WILLING, Chairman. 
" Wm. Meredith — Sec'ry." 



gCT* The publication of the following Sermon would have taken 
place immediately after it was delivered, had not the most imperi- 
ous necessity obliged the author to be absent from the city, during 
the month of August. 



TO 



MRS. ELIZABETH HAMILTON. 

Madam, 

The melancholy event which has depriv- 
ed you of an affectionate husband — your chil- 
dren of a vigilant protector — and the United 
States of America of one of the most valuable and 
meritorious of her sons, has justly excited in the 
breasts of the wise, the virtuous, and the good, the 
most poignant sensations of sorrow, and raised 
the loud cry of lamentation and distress. 

The death of General Hamilton, Madam, 
must ever be deplored, as a national calamity. 

. Among the various tributes of respect which 
have been offered to the memory of your illustri- 
ous husband, that of the citizens of Philadelphia 
has not been, I trust, the least acceptable to you. 
I am confident it was expressed with ardour and 
sincerity. 

By their resolutions of 16th jfuly, the clergy 
were requested to give their aid, on the following 
Sunday, towards the suppression of a fashion- 



VI 



able yet destructive practice, which had so re- 
cently inflicted on our country an irreparable loss. 

In compliance with this request, I composed, 
though in haste, the following Sermon: and be- 
ing now called upon, by the partiality of my 
friends, to commit it to the press, a sense of pro- 
priety, combined with the most respectful esteem, 
induces me to dedicate it, Madam, in this public 
manner, to you; in testimony of the profound vene- 
ratim with which I ever contemplated the pre- 
eminent talents and virtues of your departed com- 
panion and friend, as well as of my sincere and 
high estimation of that resplendent and acknow- 
ledged merit which constitutes your own character. 

The trial you have been called upon to experi- 
ence, though charged with an unusual degree of 
severity, has, I trust, been received by you with 
that rational fortitude, and exemplary Christian 
resignation, which shone so conspicuously in your 
conduct on a former similar occasion, when a 
beloved son fell a sacrifice to the delusive princi- 
ples of modern honour. 

May that Almighty Being who directeth the 
government of the Universe, and %vlw " chasten- 



Vll 



eth those whom he loveth, " enable you to derive 
such spiritual improvement from these dispensa- 
tions of his providence, as may elevate you to 
the highest possible attainment of Christian ex- 
cellence in this world, and of celestial felicity in 
the world which is to come. 

With the sincerest sympathy in your affliction, 
and the most affectionate wishes for your present? 
and future welfare, 

I am, 
Madam, 

Tour most obedient, 
Humble Servant, 

JAMES ABERCROMBIE. 



Philadelphia, 
October 10, 1804. 



A SERMON, &c. 



JOB, CH. XIV. VER. 10. 
MAN GIVETH UP THE GHOST, AND WHERE IS HE? 

A SOLEMN assertion, indeed! and an awful 
and important inquiry ; the resolution of which 
most intimately concerns every one in this as- 
sembly ! — not only on account of affection for 
our departed relatives and friends, but of bur 
own condition, when the toils, the troubles, the 
pains, and deceitful pleasures, of this short and 
uncertain life are over. 

If there be another state of existence after 
this, a state of retribution for our conduct here — 
and that there is, we cannot doubt, — the in- 
quiry is surely both rational and necessary. 



We know that death is the inevitable lot of 
man. We daily see our fellow creatures borne 
to the silent grave, where there can be no re- 
pentance nor device. We know that the body- 
only is deposited there, that the etherial prin- 
ciple which animated it is immortal, and that 
the operation of death is the separation of the 
one from the other. There lies the tabernacle 
of clay! but where's the soul — the spirit which 
inhabited it? "Gone to its great account!" — 
Gone to the invisible and spiritual world, 
whither ours must soon follow ! — how soon, we 
know not. 

The passage of Holy Writ which I have 
selected for my text) and which I offer to your 
present contemplation, was chosen in reference 
to a late melancholy event, which derives unu- 
sual solemnity from its peculiar circumstances, 
and demands our most serious attention. 

Dismissing, therefore, for a few moments, 
all obtrusive, busy thoughts, and anxious, 
worldly cares, 

"With inward stillness, and a bowed mind," 

let us pause, and meditate on death. Let us 



attentively, and with religious awe, listen to the 
warning voice of our departed brother, who, 
"though dead, yet speaketh;"* and, who by the 
example which he hath exhibited of the brevity 
and uncertainty of human life, calls upon us to 
refiect, that "it is appointed unto all men once 
to die:"f and that " there may be but a step 
between us and death. "J 

On such an occasion, we are naturally led 
to consider, what may be the condition of the 
soul in the world of spirits ; the period of pro- 
bation being terminated. "Man giveth up the 
ghost, and where is he?" 

The doctrine of a future state of existence 
after death, and that a state of retribution, has, 
we know, either from a principle inherent in 
man's constitution, from tradition, or from the 
deductions of reason, been universally received 



*Heb. 11.4. in allusion to Gen. 4. 10. "And the Lord said 
unto Cain, what hast thou done ? the voice of thy brother's blood 
crieth unto me from the ground." 

t Heb. 9. 27. \ 1 Sam. 20, 3. 



and cherished by all nations .* The imperfect 
suggestions, however, of reason, in the early- 
ages of the world, with respect to the soul's im- 
mortality, could gratify even the anxious re- 

*If we consult the records of historians, we shall find, that the 
doctrine of the soul's immortality has pervaded all nations, however 
remotely separated by distance of time or place ; evincing almost 
an innate conviction of that important truth. 

Of the various testimonies on this subject, the following may 
be considered as some of the most prominent. 

] . " TlvB-xyopxi o H.xpt<x; y.xi rivi<; Iri^ot tojv 7rxXxuav <t>vtrtxav otrnt- 
<py)vttvro Tdf ■^Vftott r&)v etvS-gcJirwv Irx^itv otS-xvxTXf." 

Pythagoras the Samian, and some others of the ancient natu- 
ralists, have declared the souls of men to be immortal. 

Diodorus Siculus, L. XVIII. S. 1. 

2. Xenophon, in his Cyropoedia, thus expresses the sentiments 
of Cyrus in his last moments, when addressing bis sons: 

" On yxp 2j)7th tkto yi irxtpcos StxtTre udivxt, a>; %2iv itroftxi tyu> sri 
nriihoiv ns ctv&£M7rtvx fiix TiMvTrjc-W not yxQ vvv ra tr,y y tfAyiv yn^n 
i&pxrt) «AA' 0/5 'h'.ivpot.TriTOy ruroii xvrviv a? acrxv x-xTiQwftXTt. — Ovroi 
iycoyi, u 7rxi^s?, %l)i raro navon t7rii<?&w, m « "^^l) Wi ftiv xv i» 
3-YYlTw cupxri y, Zjf' otxv §s tstk X7rxX\xyy, TSr9-v»)x«v." 

Think not you know assuredly, that when I shall have finished 
my life amongst men, I shall thence be annihilated. In what is 
now past you saw not my soul, but, by the actions which it per- 
formed, you discovered its existence. ...By no means, my sons, 
was I ever persuaded, that the soul lives only whilst it remains 
in a mortal body, but is dead when it hath departed thence. 

Xenbphon's Cyropsedia, B. VIII. 

3. Plato thus records the opinion of Socrates imparted to Sim- 
mias and Cebes : 

i( E< [tiv /ay vfiviv yjZuv 7T^i)T6v piv irxpx .9"£«j x\\%s aofixg T6 xxt xyx&xt) 
rrUTtt xxi 7?xj> #v3-g«;rss tstsAsvt»)xot#s x^uvag r»v ivS-xos, v\dtwi civ, 



searches of the most sagacious and contempla- 
tive philosopher no further, than to induce a 
degree of confidence, resting entirely upon the 
precarious foundation of probability : and many 

hk xyxvxxTcov rco S-xvxrw. ttit cs, tv 171 on- ttxp X'iooxt; r% iXttiC^c-) x<pi\- 
MrS-xt xyx$as' xxi raro y-iv ax xv ttxvv aiiT^v^tTxiiiyiv on ftivroi 

■7TXBX .9"£«? OcO"TOTXS TXVV XytX$iS$ *I%U1, IV t?l 0T1, UTTi^ It XXXo Ti)V TOlX- 
T&»V, $tis-%VPt?XlUYIV XV XXt TXTO' O'fl OiX TXVTX OVfc OftOtUi xyxixxTci, 

xXX' iviXvi$ Ufti sivxt n tu/« TZTiXsvTZ,xo?r xxi, axnci^ yi x.xt %xXxi 
Xsyirxt, rroXv xftunov Ton; xyx&ois vi toi% xxxois" 

If, indeed, I were not expecting to go, first to other Gods both 
wise and good, and then to men, who have died, and are better than 
those in this state, I had acted wrong in not being concerned at 
the approach of death ; but now, be assured, I hope to arrive 
amongst good men ; though this I would not positively affirm ; but 
that I shall go to Gods, who are rulers altogether good, this be 
assured, I would affirm, if I could affirm any thing of this nature. 
On these accounts, therefore, I am not so concerned as otherwise 
I should have been, but have earnest hope that there remains 
something for those who have died, and, as was long ago said, 
something much better for the good than for the wicked. 

Plato's Phcedo. Forster's Ed. P. 170. 

4. " Tlponot 2i xxi tovoz tov Xoyov Atyvvnoi stc-tV 01 e<T«»TJj, ot$ 
etv&PMirit "fyvfcvt xB~xvxto<; STf T% tro>u.xT6<; as xxtx$3-ivovto$) e? xXXo 

fyjOV XIU ylVOUVJOV Ifo'vlTXt' iTTiXV 2i Vi^tl'K^ KXVTX TX ftl^GXlX XXI TX 

S-xXx<r<r:x xxi rx ttzthvx, xvn? £«• xv^pukk o~wp.x yivouivov trcivvitv." 

The Egyptians are the first who have asserted that the soul 
of man is immortal : when the body is dead, the soul enters into 
some other living creature, as it is born in that succession which 
is continually coming into existence ; but when it has gone 
through creatures of land and sea, and through birds, it enters 
into the body of man when born. 

Herodotus, L. II. S. 123. 



of their most refined opinions, when given to the 
world, became corrupted and deformed by a 
variety of superstitious fears and absurd mis- 
conceptions : so that death and the grave were 



5. The celebrated Dr. Middleton thus expresses the sentiments 
of Cicero : 

" He held likewise the immortality of the soul, and its separate 
existence after death in a state of happiness or misery. This he 
inferred from that ardent thirst of immortality, which was always 
the most conspicuous in the best and most exalted minds ; from 
which the truest specimen of their nature must needs be drawn : 
from its unmixed and indivisible essence, which had nothing 
separable or perishable in it: from its wonderful powers and 
faculties; its principle of self-motion, its memory, invention, wit, 
comprehension, which were all incompatible with sluggish mat- 
ter." 

" As to a future state of l'ewards and punishments, he considered 
it as a consequence of the soul's immortality ; deducible from the 
attributes of God, and the condition of man's life on earth ; and 
thought it so highly probable, that we could hardly doubt of it, he 
says, unless it should happen to our minds, when they look into 
themselves, as it does to our eyes, when they look too ii tensely 
at the sun, that finding their sight dazzled, they give over look- 
ing at all !" 
Middleton's Life of Cicero. Sect. XII. Vol. III. P. 341—343. 

6. Caesar relates of the Druids, or the ministers of religion 
among the ancient Gauls and Britons: 

"In primis hoc volunt persuadere, non interire animas, sed ab 
aliis post mortem transire ad alios ; atque hoc maxime ad virtu- 
tem excitari putant, metu mortis neglecto." 

One of their leading doctrines is, that the souls of men do not 
perish at their death, but pass from one body to another ; thus 



rendered objects of terror and dismay to the 
generality of the expiring sons of Adam. But, 
no sooner did the beams of Divine Revelation 
begin to illuminate a benighted world, — no 



they think to inspire them with courage, by extinguishing the 

dread of annihilation. 

Cxs. Com. de Bello Gallico, L. VI. 13. 
7. The Poet Lucan has these lines: 

•• Et vos barbaricos ritus, moremque sinistrum 

Sacrorum, Druidx, positis repetisiis ab armis. 

Solis nosse deos et cceli numina vobis, 

Aut solis nescire datum : nemora alta remotis 

Incolitis lucis. Vobis auctoribus, umbrae 

Non tacitas Erebi sedes, Ditisque profundi 

Pallida regna petunt : regit idem spiritus artus 

Orbe alio : longre (canitis si cognita) vitae' 

Mors media est. Certe populi, quos despicit Arctos 

Felices errore suo, quos ille timorum 

Maximus, baud urget leti metus : inde ruendi 

In ferrum mens prona viris, animxque capaces 

Mortis, et ignavum rediturx parcere vitse.'' 

Lucan. Phar. L. 1. 450. 

" The Druids now, while arms are heard no more, 

Old mysteries and barb'rous rites restore: 

A tribe who singular religion love, 

And haunt the lonely coverts of the grove. 

To these, and these of all mankind alone, 

The Gods are sure reveal'd, or sure unknown. 

If dying mortals' dooms they sing aright, 

No ghosts descend to dwell in dreadful night: 

No parting souls to grisly Pluto go, 

Nor seek the dreary silent shades below : 



10 



sooner did the Sun of Righteousness arise — 
than the lowering clouds of doubt were speedily- 
dissipated. The celestial Conqueror, by whom 
Death was disarmed of his sting, and the Grave 



But forth they fly immortal in their kind, 
And other hodies in new worlds they find. 
Thus life forever runs its endless race, 
And, like a line, death but divides the space, 
A stop which can but for a moment last, 
A point between the future and the past. 
Thrice happy they beneath their northern skies, 
Who that worst fear, the fear of death, despise, 
Hence they no cares for this frail being feel, 
But rush undaunted on the pointed steel; 
Provoke approaching fate, and bravely scorn 
To spare that life which must so soon return." 

Rowe's Translation B. I. L 790. 

8. Sir Wm. Temple, speaking of the religious tenets of the 
Goths, Vandals, Alans, Lombards, Huns, and other Northern 
nations, who, at different times, invaded the Roman Empire, says, 

"Whether they were deduced from that of Zamolxis among 
the Getes, styled of old, Immortals, or introduced by Odin among 
the Western Goths, it is certain that an opinion was fixed and 
general among them, that death was but the entrance into another 
life ; that all men who lived lazy and inactive lives, and died natu- 
ral deaths, by sickness or by age, went into vast caves under 
ground, all dark and miry, full of noisome creatures, usual in such 
places, and there forever grovelled in endless stench and misery. 
On the contrary, all who gave themselves to warlike actions 
and enterprizes, to the conquest of their neighbours and slaughter 
of enemies, and died in battk, or of violent deaths upon bold ad- 
ventures or resolutions, they went immediately to the vast hall or 



11 



disappointed of its victory, appeared; merciful- 
ly drew aside the veil between the earthly and 
spiritual world, and proclaimed our deliverance 
from their power: teaching us to consider the 

palace of Odin, their god of war, who eternally kept open house 
for all such guests, where they were entertained at infinite tables, 
in perpetual feasts and mirth, carousing every man in sculls of 
their enemies they had slain, according to which numbers, every 
one in these mansions of pleasure was the most honoured and the 
best entertained." 

Essay 3d of Heroic Virtue. 

9. Hyde in his history of the religion of the ancient Persians 
asserts : 

" Aliqui credebant beatorum sedem fore in corporc solis, ut 
Manichcei et alii hcerctici. Orthodoxi, post animx ascensum ad 
Deum (ut apud sepulchreta cernitur) et requiem apudeum usque 
ad resurrectionem, credunt habitationem corporalem, reunitis 
animabus, rursus tandem fore in hoc mundo renovato et reficto: 
terrain enim de novo remigendam, et talem ejusdem statum fore 
in ultimo judicio, ipsi Indo — Per3se produnt — Quod hsec sit revera 
eoruvn traditio, constat ex libro Sad~de?; ubi inter Zoroastris prx- 
cepta et canones, traditur talem fore Paradisum terrestrem amoe- 
nitate, ad instar horti glorioaissimi, ad quern etiam per pontem 
transeundum sd statum renovatum. Dictus itaque /ions judicialls 
a Camusi autore describitur, pons extensus super dorsum gehennx. 
Et quicunque per hunc pontem, a nemine angelorum prxpeditus, 
pertransit, ad Paradisum pertingit: alias a ponte delapsus, in Tar- 
tara cadit, et in ea prcecipitatur. In isto ponte constiluti sunt 
duo angeli examinatores : quorum ille bilancem secum in manu ha- 
bet, ut possit examinare hominum bona opera seu merita ; ut si 
nimis levia sint, a ponte dejecti immergantur in gehennam ; si vero 
graviora et ponderosa, turn per przedictum pontem transeant in 
Paradisum amesnissimum, 8cc. &c." 

Hyde's Vetenun Persarum, Religionis Historia, C. 33. 
B 



12 



one, as a messenger of mercy, sent to break off 
the fetters of mortality; and the other, as the 
gate of admission into the paradise of God. 



Some of them believed that the souls of the blessed were trans- 
lated to the. Sun. This was the opinion held by the Manichosans 
and other heretics. While the orthodox asserted, (as appears by the 
inscriptions in their burial places), that after death, the soul as- 
cended to God, where it enjoyed a state of quiet repose, until the 
resurrection : that it was then re -united to a body, and returned to 
this earth, which would at that time be renewed and purified. 
For, the Indo-Persians profess to believe, that the earth is to be 
formed anew, at the general judgment. — That this was really 
a tradition among them is evident from one of their books entitled 
Sad-der, where among the precepts and canons of Zoroaster, it 
is said that the terrestrial paradise would be similar in its splen- 
dour and happiness to that of the celestial regions, with which 
it would be connected by means of a bridge. This judicial 
bridge, according to Camusus, is extended over the gulph of Hell. 
And whoever passed over this bridge without being interrupted in 
the way by an angel, went forward into Paradise ; but if thrown 
from the bridge was instantly precipitated into Tartarus : upon 
this bridge two angels were always stationed, one of whom had a 
pair of scales, in which the merits and demerits of men were care- 
fully weighed, that if the latter preponderated, they were thrown 
down into the regions of misery ; but if the former, they were per- 
mitted to pass over into Paradise. 

Hydk's History of the religion of the ancient Persians, C. 33. 
P. 49 1 . 

10. Sir Wm. Jones, speaking of the modern Persians, tells us: 

"I will only detain you with a few remarks on that metaphysi- 
cal theology, which has been professed immemorially by a nume- 
rous sect of Persians and Hindus, was carried in part into Greece, 
and prevails even now among the learned Muielmans, who some- 



13 



Thus, amid the fears and sorrows which 
unavoidably embitter human life, as a state of 
probation, %ve are relieved from that most pierc- 
ing and dejecting of all fears — the dread of anni- 



times avow it without reserve. The modern philosophers of thi3 
persuasion are called Sufis, either from the Greek word for a 
sage, or from the woollen mantle, which they used to wear in 
some provinces of Persia. Their fundamental tenets are, that 
nothing exists absolutely but God ; that the human soul is an 
emanation from his essence, and, though divided for a time from its 
heavenly source, will be finally reunited with it ; that the highest 
possible happiness will arise from its reunion, and that the chief 
good of mankind, in this transitory world, consists in as perfect an 
union with the Eternal Spirit, as the incumbrances of a mortal 
frame will allow." 

Asiatic Researches: Vol. 2. P. 62. 

1 1. Strabo thus speaks of the a?icient Brachmans: 

" nXiiTHi Ss xvtoh itvett Aaysj vi^t 9-xvxrx' votitt^stv [tiv yx^ J» rat far 
fj&xdi fiiov, v$ xv etK/nrtv tcvofAivcov itvxr rev ^^B-xvxtov yin<7HUq rov otte^ 
/&io*, xxi Svoxtftevx T4<s <p<Aoje(p>]5-<*GV 2<a tv\ xcif)<rn GrXucry %pnc$xt 
7T(>os T« £T«; i we3-#v«Tov• xyxB-ov di n xxkov f4i)Sey uvxi rav fvp^xivovrai 

(Mf.gasthenes says) they discourse much on death ; for they 
think the life here present to be as the state of creatures fully con- 
ceived, but death they consider as a birth to life really such, a life 
happy to those who have studied wisdom: for this reason they ex- 
ercise themselves in preparing for death. Of the events which 
befal men, they hold that not one is either good or bad. 

Strabo, L. XV. P 490. Ed .1587. 

12. And Mr. Wilkins thus of the modern Brahmans. 
Their opinion concerning the nature of the soul, is thus deti 

vered in the Bhagvat-Geeta: 



14 



hilation. God has herein given us the most 
sublime and animating consolation. In the Gos- 
pel of our salvation, there is abundant provi- 
sion made for the wants, the weaknesses, and 



,, Thou gi ievesl for those who are unworthy to be lamented, 
whilst thy sentiments are those of the wise men. The wise nei- 
ther grieve for the dead nor for the living-. 1 myself never was 
not, nor thou, nor all the princes of the earth ; nor shall we ever 
hereafter cease to be. As the soul, in this mortal frame, findeth 
infancy, youth, and old age; so, in some future frame, will it 
find the like. One who is coniirmed in tins belief, is not disturbed 
by any thing which can come to pass. The sensibility of the 
facidties giveth heat and cold, pleasure and pain ; which come and 
go, and are transient and inconstant. Bear them with patience, 
O Son of Bhiir-at; for the wise man, whom these disturb not, and 
to whom pain and pleasure are the same, is formed for immorta- 
lity. The man who believeth that it is the soul which killeth, and 
he who thinketh that the soul may be destroyed, are both alike de- 
ceived; for it neither killeth, nor is it killed. It is not a thing, of 
which a man may say, it hath been, it is about to be, or it is to 
be hereafter; for it is a thing without birth; it is ancient, con- 
stant, and eternal ; and is not to be destroyed in this its mortal frame. 
How can a man who believeth that this thing is incorruptible, 
eternal, inexhaustible, and without birth, think that he can either 
kill or cause it to be killed ? As a man throweth away old garments, 
and putteth on new, even so the soul, having quitted its old mor- 
tal frame, entereth into others which are new. The weapon di- 
videth it not, the fire burnetii it not, the water corrupteth it not, 
the wind drieth it not away ; for it is indivisible, inconsumable, 
incorruptible, and is not to be dried away ; it is eternal, universal, 
permanent, immoveable ; ic is invisible, inconceivable, and unalter- 
able ; therefore believing it to be thus, thou shouldest not grieve." 
Lecture 2. Bh'a^at-Geeta. Translated by Mr. Wilkins. 



15 



the guilt of man. If the world should fail us T 
we are to consider ourselves as strangers and 
sojourners here, whose treasures and whose 
home are in Heaven — If we suffer affliction in 



13. That laborious researcher, Purchas, gives this account of 
the belief of the Africans, upon the coast of Guinea, with respect 
to a future existence. 

"We asked them of their beliefe, and what opinion they had of 
divers things ; as first, when they died what became of their bodies 
and souls? they made us answere, that the body is dead, but they knew 
not what any resurrection at the latter day meant, as we doe; but 
when they die, they know that they goe into another world, but 
they know not whither; and that therein they differ fiorrj brute 
beasts, but they cannot teil you to what place they goe, whether 
under the earth or up into heaven ; but when they die, they use 
to give the dead bodie something to carrie with him ; whereby it 
is to be marked that they believe that there is another life after 
this, and that there they have need of such things as they have 
here on earth." 

Part 2. Purchas's Pilgrims, L.VII. C. 2. § 4. p. 943. Ed. 1625. 

14. Edwards in his History of the West Indies, says, 
"They tell me likewise, that whenever a considerable man ex- 
pires, several of his wives, and a great number of his slaves, are 
sacrificed at his funeral. This is done, say they, that he may be 
properly attended in the next world. This circumstance has been 
confirmed to me by every Gold Coast Negro that I have interro- 
gated on the subject, and I have inquired of many." 
Edwards's Hist, of the West Indies B. IV. C. 3. P. 67. Ed. 1793. 

15. Dr. Robertson, speaking of the Aboriginal Americans, 
observes: 

" With respect to the other great doctrine of religion, concern- 
ing the immortality of the soul, the sentiments of the Americans 
were more united. The human mind, even when leapt improved 



16 



our own persons, it is to be considered as the 
chastisement of our heavenly father — If we lose 
our friends and dear connexions, who affection- 
ately twine around our hearts, and constitute 

and invigorated by culture, shrinks from the thought of dissolution, 
and looks forward, with hope and expectation,, to a state of future 
existence. This sentiment, resulting from a secret consciousness 
of its own dignity, from an instinctive longing after immortality, 
is universal, and may be deemed natural. Upon this are founded 
the most exalted hopesof man in his highest state of improvement ,- 
nor has nature withheld from him this soothing consolation, in 
the most early and rude period of his progress. We can trace this 
opinion from one extremity of America to the other. In some 
regions more faint and obscure, in others more perfectly develo- 
ped i but no where unknown. The most uncivilized of its savage 
tribes do not apprehend death as the extinction of being. All hope 
for a future and more happy state, where they shall be for ever ex- 
empt from the calamities which embitter human life in its pre- 
sent condition. As they imagine, that the dead begin anew their 
career in the world whither they are gone, that they may not en- 
ter upon it defenceless and unprovided, they bury with them their 
bow, their arrows, and other weapons used in hunting or war ; they 
deposite in their tombs the skins or stuffs of which they may make 
garments, Indian corn, manioc, venison, domestic utensils, and 
whatever is reckoned among the necessaries in their simple mode 
of life ". 
Robertson's Hist, of America, B. IV. C. 7. P. 387. Ed. 1776. 
16. Peter Martyr, discoursing upon the same subject, says: 
"Duri inlittore (Cubx) rem divinam pnefectus (Columbus) au- 
diret, ecce primarium quendam octogenarium, virum gravem, nee 
eo minus nudum, mollis eum comitantibus. Hie, donee sacra per- 
agerentur admiratus, ore occulisque intentus adsistit: dehinc 
praifetto cani strum, quem manu gerebat, plenum patriae fructibus, 



17 



our principal happiness, we are not to "sorrow 
as those who have no hope":* because, "the 
hour is coming, in which they who are in their 
graves, shall hear the voice of the Son of God, 

dono dedit : sedensque apud cum per interpreters Didacum co- 
Ionum, qui id idioma, cum propius accessissent, intelligebat, orati- 
onem habuit hujuscemodi : 

" Terras omnes istas hactenus tibi ignotas, manu potenti te 
percurrisse, renunciatum nobis fuit, populisque incolis metum non 
rnediocrem intulisse. Quarc te hortor moneoque, ut itinera duo, 
cum e corporc prosiliunt, animas habere scias : tenebrosum unum 
ac tetrum, bis paratum, qui generi humano molesti infensique 
sunt : jucundum aliud et delectabile, illis statutum, qui pacem et 
quietem gentium viventes amarunt. Si igitur te mortalem esse, 
et unicuique pro prasentibus operibus futura merita obsignata 
memineris, neminem infestabis." 

Whilst the Admiral (Columbus) was hearing divine service 
on the shore (of Cuba) to his astonishment, there came a chief 
about eighty years old, a man respectable, yet naked, and with 
him a large company of attendants. Struck with admiration, dur- 
ing the performance of the religious ceremonies, he stood silent 
and with his eyes fixed : but when they were concluded, he presented 
to the Admiral a basket filled with the fruits of his country, which 
he carried in his hand ; and sitting down near him, by means of Di- 
dacus, an interpreter, who came from one of the colonies, and who, 
upon near approach, understood that dialect, he spake to this effect : 
" We have been told, that with your powerful army you have made 
a rapid progress through all those lands, with which heretofore you 
were unacquainted ; and that you have greatly terrified the people 
who inhabit them. Know then, by my exhortation and admonition, 

* 1 Thcss. 4. 13. 



18 



and shall come forth;"* and, "them that sleep in 
Jesus shall he bring with him."f — And, if we 
ourselves are parting with the world, and all 
that is dear to us here, provided we are the 

that for the souls of men departed from their bodies, there are 
two different ways of destination ; the one dark and horrible, pre- 
pared for those who disturb and annoy mankind ; the other plea- 
sant and delightfill, appointed for those who, during life, have loved 
the peace and tranquillity of nations. If you will remember that 
you are mortal, and that future retributions are reserved for every 
person, proportioned to his present actions, you will make no one 
unhappy ► 

B. III. Dec. l.P. 43. Ed. 1574. 

17. Caft. King, in his account of the Sandwich Islands, thus 
states the sentiments of their inhabitants on this subject: 

"■We were able to learn but little of their notions with regard 
to a future stale. Whenever we asked them, whither the dead 
■were gone ? we were always answered, that the breath, which 
they appeared to consider as the soul, or immortal part, was gone 
to Eatooa ; and on pushing our inquiries farther, they seemed to 
describe some particular place, where they imagined the abode of 
the deceased to be ; but we could not perceive, that they thought, 
in. this state, either rewards or punishments awaited them." 

Capt. King's account of the Sandwich Islands, Vol. III. B. 5. 
C. 7. P. 163. Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, Ed. 1785. 

IS. Capt. Cook's Account of the Friendly Islands contains this 
infoi mation : 

"Thk Inhabitants have very proper sentiments about the im- 
materiality and immortality of the soul. They call it life, the liv- 
ing principle, or, what is more agreeable ;o their notions of it, an 
Otooa; that is, a divinity or invisible being. They say, that im- 

*John 5. 25. t I The-ss. 4. 14. 



19 



disciples of Christ, and our faith in him will au- 
thorize us confidently and sincerely to exclaim, 
with the expiring Stephen, "Lord Jesus, re- 
ceive my spirit!"* his rod and his staff shall be 

mediately upon death, the souls of their chiefs separate from their 
bodies, and go to a place called Boolootoo ; the chief, or god of 
which is Goolcho — as to the souls of the lower sort of people, they 
undergo a sort of transmigration ; or, as they say, are eaten by a 
bird called Coata, which walks upon their graves for that purpose." 

Capt. Cook's Account of the Friendly Islands, Vol. 1. B. 2. 
C 11. P. 405. Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, Ed. 1785. 

19 . Mr. Anderson tells, us that " the inhabitants of Otaheite 
believe the soul to be immaterial and immortal. They say, that 
it keeps fluttering about the lips, during the pangs of death ; and 
that then it ascends, and mixes with, or, as they express it, is ea- 
ten by the Deity. In this state, it remains for some time ; after 
which, it departs to a certain place, destined for the reception of 
the souls of men, where it exists in eternal night ; or, as they 
sometimes say, in twilight or dawn. They have no idea of any 
permanentpunishmentafterdeath, for crimeswhich have been com- 
mitted on earth ; for the souls of good and of bad men are eaten 
indiscriminately by God. But they certainly consider this coali- 
tion with the Deity, as a kind of purification, necessary to be un- 
dergone, before they enter a state of bliss." 

Mr. Anderson's account of Otaheite, B. III. C. 9. P. 164. 
Vol. II. Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, Ed. 1785. 

From these testimonies, (to which many others might be added) 
it appears incontrovertibly,that a belief in a future state of existence 
after death has existed in all nations. The mode of that existence 
could not possibly be ascertained, but by Divine Revelation, which 
v>e have the inestimable privilege of enjoying. 

*Acts 7. 59. 
C 



20 



such support, as will frequently enable us to 
exult in that triumphant apostrophe...." O 
Death ! where is thy sting ? O Grave ! where is 
thy victory?"* 

Yes, Brethren, the sighs of contrition, and 
the aspirations after holiness, which flow from 
the sincere heart, ascend before the throne of 
God ; where, " trumpet-tongued " they plead for 
favour and forgiveness; while their plea is en- 
forced, by the atoning merits of the divine me- 
diator, and their testimony recorded, in the 
mighty, the awful Register of Heaven. 

To such persons we are assured the Lord 
will not impute iniquity, u because in their spirit 
there was no guile: "f but that "their sins shall 
be blotted out,"$ and "their iniquities remember- 
ed no more".j| To the obdurate and impeni- 
tent, nothing, indeed, remains at the solemn hour 
of dissolution, but the consciousness of guilt, 
of neglected opportunties of repentance and sal- 
vation, of murdered, mispent time ; and conse- 
quently, "a fearful looking for of judgment",** 

* 1 Cor. 15. 55. f Ts. 52. 2. } Acts. 3. 19. || Ikb. 8. 12. 
** Heb. 10. 27. 



21 



and of banishment from the presence of God, 
into the regions of agony and despair. 

In instances of sudden dissolution, we see 
how awful is the power of that agent, who is 
permitted to extinguish our earthly existence, in 
a manner, sometimes, the most terrifying and 
alarming. But, that we may not sink under the 
painful apprehensions, which such dispensations 
might naturally occasion, let us turn our atten- 
tion to the exhilarating assurance given, by di- 
vine revelation, to the beloved apostle St. John ; 
who says, "I heard a voice from heaven, say- 
ing unto me, write, Blessed are the dead, who 
die in the Lord, from henceforth :"* i. e. immedi- 
ately, or at the moment of their death. 

♦Various have been the opinions of Commentators, with res- 
pect to an apparent ambiguity, as to the period referred to by this 
expression " from henceforth :" — some referring it to the severe 
persecution, which, it was revealed to the evangelist, would be 
permitted to try the faith of the saints, the true servants of God, in 
the latter days, when Satan should exert his utmost power, 
and make his last and greatest effort against the kingdom of God 
amongst men ; or, against the influence of the faith as it is in Jesus ; 
when, as St. John expresses it, " the Devil shall come, having great 
wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time :" and that, 
therefore, those sincere Christiana who shall die in the full and true 
belief and profession of their faith, before that awful period, were to 



22 



By dying in the Lord is to be understood. 
1. The dying in a state of union with him, as 
stedfast believers in his mediation and effec- 



be accounted blessed, because exempted from the severe distresses 
and trials, which, in the infinitely wise economy of Providence, 
were preordained, as of necessary occurrence, and would then be 
permitted to exist. 

Other expositors of this portion of the sacred Canon, consider 
the declai-ation, as altogether applicable to that particular period of 
Church History, when a reformation from the errors and corrup- 
tions of Popery, both in doctrine and dicipline, was effected in the 
visible church of Christ, by Luther and his profestant adherents. 

Others are of opinion, that it should only be taken in immedi- 
ate connection with the phrase, dying in or for the Lord ; and would 
therefore confine it to those, who evinced the sincerity of their faith 
by suffering martyrdom, rather than relinquish their attachment to 
Christianity. 

Others again assert, that the words "from henceforth" are of 
more general signification, and is an expression synonymous with 
immediately ; that is, from the moment of their death, those who die 
in the Lord, or in the true faith of Christianity — shall be blessed, and 
enter into rest ; this opinion appears to be strengthened, by consi- 
dering the preceding verses ; in which the power of antichrist is 
described, and the most dreadful punishment denounced against 
those "who worship the beast and his image." And as a belief 
in Purgatory or an intermediate state of purification between death 
and judgment, is one of the tenets held by some, this solemn assur- 
ance by a voice from Heaven (after the prophetic vision of Anti- 
christ) appears to be particularly directed against that erroneous 
doctrine, and accordingly the Church from which we are descend- 
ed expressly condemns it in her 22 article. 

In this sense also the compilers of our Liturgy certainly under- 
stood the passage, otherwise they would not have inserted it into the 



23 



tual intercession ; after becoming members of 
his mystical body, the Church, by Baptism. 

"Neither pray I." said Christ himself, just 
before he suffered; "neither pray I for these," 
my Apostles, "alone, but for them also, who 
shall believe on me through their word ; that 
they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in 
me, and I in thee ; that they also may be one 
in us: that the world may believe, that thou 
hast sent me : And the glory, which thou ga- 
vest me, I have given them; that they may be 
one, even as we are one : I in them, and thou 
in me, that they may be made perfect in one ; — 
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me 
may be in them, and I in them." * 

2. Such maybe considered as living, and, by 
"enduring unto the end," f as dying in the Lord, 

Burial service, and have transposed the original construction of the 
sentence, so as clearly to render it of general application, and une- 
quivocally to convey that meaning. 

With deference, therefore, to such respectable authorities as 
support the preceding opinions, I am inclined to subscribe to the 
Litter interpretation, as most consonant to reason, to the general 
tenor of Scripture, and to the evident scope of the passage in the 
original, when taken in connection with the verses, which it imme- 
diately follows. 

•John 17, 20. 21. 22. *J3. fMath. 10. 2 'J. 



24 



who have faithfully employed their time and 
talents, during their period of probation here, 
in endeavouring to know the will of the Lord, 
by searching the Holy Scriptures ; in striving 
to regulate their sentiments and actions accord- 
ing to their dictates; and in uniform exertions 
to promote the public weal. 

3. By dying in the Lord, is to be considered, 
the dying in a public profession of faith in 
Christ. "Whosoever shall confess me before 
men, him will I confess also before my Father 
who is in heaven."* And, "Whosoever shall be 
ashamed of me, and of my words, of him shall the 
Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come 
in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the 
holy angels."f Faith is the last grace acted 
upon by the dying Christian: it supports his 
hopes, because it shews him a faithful Saviour, 
and a merciful and reconciled God. 

4. They may be said to die in the Lord, who 
imitate Christ's dying example, in patience and 
resignation to the divine will, and in devoutly 

* Mat. 10. 32. t Luke 9. 26. 



25 



commending their spirits unto God. "And 
when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, 
Father into thy hands I commend my spirit: 
and having said thus, he gave up the ghost."* 
Such are the blessed, who, by uniting these 
qualifications, " die in the Lord," and happily 
" rest from their labours." They enjoy a ces- 
sation from the toils and perplexities of human 
life, and a relief from its vexations and afflic- 
tions. They escape from the seductions of 
pleasure, and the insatiable cravings of ambi- 
tion; from harrassing doubts and fears; from 
party contentions ; from the treachery of pre- 
tended friends, and the envy, hatred, and malice, 
of open enemies; from, " disease and sor- 
row's weeping train ;" from the iron scourge of 
ingratitude, and the torturing pangs of disap- 
pointed hope. They rest in the enjoyment of 
the immediate presence of God, of a visible in- 
tercourse with their Saviour, and of an associ- 
ation with angels and archangels, and "with 
the spirits of just men made perfect."! In a word : 

* Mat. 23. -16. t Htb 12. 23. 



26 



they rest, in the full fruition of the most refined 
and perfect felicity. 

Various indeed are the modes, in which the 
king of terrors exercises his power over the 
human race ; the most lamentable and distress- 
ing of which is that, whereby he renders men 
the agents of their own dissolution ; either by 
the perpetration of wilful Suicide^ or by the 
equally atrocious act of Duelling* — a practice 
which, notwithstanding the explicit and positive 
prohibition of divine and human laws, frequent- 
ly prevails in the most civilized nations, and 
even amongst those who profess, and call them- 
selves Christians. — A practice so deeply rooted, 
and so generally acquiesced in, so interwoven 
with the respect and esteem of our fellow men, 

* The criminality of both these practices must be evident to 
ever}' reflecting mind, whether they are viewed through the medium 
of reason, or religion. The horror which is experienced, and the uni- 
versal reprobation which is expressed, on hearing of an act of sui- 
cide, will ever render it an act of rare commission in civilized socie- 
ty. Whereas, to the practice of duelling, though not less crimi- 
nal in its motive, subversive of the happiness of society in its opera- 
tion, or fatal in its influence and effects, the potent and almost 
irresistible authority of custom, (and that originating in barbarism 
and superstition), has long given and still continues to give a sanc- 
tion, which is universally received and implicitly submitted to. 



27 



as often not to be resisted, but under pain of 
forfeiting these, and the ability of future use- 
fulness in life. A practice, moreover, which I 
am sorry to observe, is rapidly gaining ground, 
and its advocates daily increasing amongst us ; 
though it is known to be an act, replete with 
danger and distress, ferocious in its nature, sa- 
vage in its operation, and impiously antichris- 
tian in its principle. 

I am well aware, that even under the ac- 
knowledged consciousness of its enormity, du- 
elling is defended, on the ground of unavoidable 
necessity ; its supporters alleging, that there are 
some offences of so peculiar a nature, as, though 
in the highest degree irritating and injurious, do 
not come under the cognizance of the establish- 
ed laws, and which call for immediate re- 
dress.* But this is an argument, false, both 



* For the suggestion of the following Law authority, and the 
arguments by which it is controverted, I am indebted to a learned 
and ingenious friend. 

The practice of duelling receives the following defence from Mr. 
Vattel, an author celebrated through the world for his accurate trea- 
tise on the law of nations. "This honour" says he "be it as false 

n 



28 



in its origin and application, because found- 
ed upon assumed premises — an argument 



and chimerical as you'please, is a very real and necessary blessing ; 
since without it a man can neither live well with his equals, 
nor exercise a profession that is often his only resource. When 
therefore a man of a brutish disposition would unjustly ravish from 
him a chimera so esteemed, and so necessary, why may he not 
defend it as he would his life and treasure against a robber ? As the 
state does not permit an individual to pursue with arms in his 
hands the usurper of his fortune, only because he may obtain jus- 
tice from the magistrate ; so if the sovereign will not allow him to 
draw his sword against him from whom he has received an insult, 
he ought necessarily to take such measures that the patience and 
obedience insulted be no prejudice to him. The society cannot de- 
prive man of his natural right of making war against an aggressor, 
without furnishing him with another means of securing himself from 
the evil his enemy would do him ; for on all these occasions, where 
the public authority cannot lend us assistance, ive resume our primary 
right of natural defence. Thus a traveller may kill, without difficulty, 
the robber who attacks him on the highway, because, at that in- 
stant he would in vain implore the protection of the laws, and the 
magistrate." 

Vattel. B. I. Ch. XIII. Sec 176. 
This I take to be the splendid sophism, by which alone will any 
man of sense suffer himself to be deluded : for, as to those 
puerile arguments which treat duelling as an anomalous mode of 
punishment, or a just revenge, they are at once too silly and too 
impious to ensnare one person of a strong understanding. But to 
this there is a conclusive answer ; one indeed to which a Christian 
will not condescend, because he looks with a single eye to the par- 
amount ordinances of his religion, — the authority of his God; and 
spurns the influence of a prejudice by which society would under- 
mine the Gospel: but one which men of fashion, and of mere 



29 



too, which neither the Philanthropist nor the 
Deist — and much less the Christian — can possi- 
bly reconcile with his articles of faith, or mo- 

worldly calculation may listen to, because it destroys the whole 
foundation of the sophism. It is this — a man cannot be reduced 
to the state of nature so as to justify a private war for any thing 
which in a state of nature is not an adequate offence : and for this 
reason ; if he be considered in a state of nature as to the war, he 
must be so as to the ground of the war ; and if that ground be not 
a good one, the right of war of course fails. To exemplify — I 
am in a state of nature to execute justice on the highway robber; 
because, in a state of nature such an attack would be a good 
ground for such a resistance, and such an assault upon the person 
could only be defeated by the destruction of the assailant. But if 
a man calls me a coward, for which civil law will give me no re- 
dress, and I am restored, as Vattel supposes, to a state of nature, 
for what purpose is this ? Why surely for nothing but to get re- 
dress for an action, which, by reason alone of my union with society 
can do me any injury. This is plainly contrary to Vattel's rea- 
soning, for he grounds his position on this maxim ; " that society 
cannot deprive him of his natural right. Now what natural right 
has a man to take the life of one who calls him a coward ? of one 
Avho insults him ? surely none. And here lies the fallacy in Vattel's 
argument ; that he supposes this offence against courtesy, and 
politeness, which is so ruinous to a man in the present state of so- 
ciety, is actually an offence by the Law of Nature. It has not been 
deemed an offence of this magnitude in many states of society 
equally refined as the present ; it owes its consequence to the pre- 
posterous pride of cowards, who have formed a sufficient majority 
to impose the sentiment upon brave men ; and so far from being 
an offence in a state of nature, if we can conceive of such a slate, 
bravery is a virtue which derives its whole consideration from soci~ 
ttxj. In a state of nature no one could be reproached as a coward, 



30 



tives of action : for, can any occurrence ever 
justify a wilful violation of the divine laws, or 
of the immutable principles of justice and hu- 
manity? In such cases, however, as well indeed 
as in all, did the dictates of genuine benevo- 
lence, and Christian forbearance operate as they 
ought in the human breast, as no wilful offence 
would be given, of course, such fatal conse- 
quences would never exist. Let, therefore, the 
injunctions of Christianity "and Philanthropy be- 



because until men are somehow united, this weakness is pernicious 
to no one, but the individual of whom it is predicated. I speak as 
to what may be called the philosophical state of nature, where 
every man is independent of his fellow. As to our savages, with 
whom bravery is of great account, they are so far removed from 
the state of nature contemplated, as upon some points to be mo- 
rally superior to the boasted gentlemen of cultivated cities -, and they 
esteem courage more than any thing else, from the very circumstance 
that their social connection depends principally upon it. It may 
not be inapplicable perhaps to remark, that, among these truly 
brave people who idolize courage, single combat, by individuals of 
the same tribe, is not known. I am therefore justified in answering 
Vattel, that although " society cannot deprive man of his natural right 
of making war against an aggressor, without furnishing him with 
another means of securing himself from the evil his enemy 
would do him," yet, for the offences which stimulate men of ho- 
nour to a duel, there is no natural rightof defence : in the code of na- 
ture such offences cannot exist — they grow out of society ; and 
therefore if there were a right of defence, it would want a corre- 
lative ; which would be an absurdity. 



31 



gin their operation, by preventing offences of 
such a nature, and by conciliatory efforts to ap- 
pease resentment against them when commit- 
ted ; thereby removing from the offender the im- 
putation of all the consequent mischief and mise- 
ry, of which he might otherwise be considered 
as the author.* 



* Though duelling cannot be justified, in any degree, under 
any provocation, yet let it be remembered, with respect to the 
illustrious victim, whose untimely death we now justly deplore, 
that the Rev. Dr. Mason, who attended him on his death bed, testi- 
fies, " he declared his abhorrence of the whole transaction, and 
repeated his disavowal of all intention to hurt Col. Burr." " It was 
always," added he, " against my principles. I used every expedi- 
ent to avoid the interview : but I have found, for some time past, 
that my life must be exposed to that- man. I went to the field de- 
termined not to take his life." 

And, in a paper written with his own hand, inclosed with his will, 
in a packet addressed to one of his executors, to be opened in case 
of his death, are the following singular and decisive assertions. 
" My religious and moral principles are strongly opposed to the 
practice of duelling, and it would ever give me pain, to be obliged 
to shed the blood of a fellow creature, in a private combat forbidden 
by the laws." 

" The disavowal required of me by Col. Burr, in a general and 
indefinite form, was out of my power, if it had really been proper 
for me to submit to be so questioned." 

" I am not sure whether, under all the circumstances, I did not 
go further in the attempt to accommodate, than a punctilious de- 
licacy will justify. If so, I ho;>e the motives I have stated will 
excuse me." 



32 



" By this infamous vice of duelling," says 
a celebrated modern jurist,* " how is the 
name of Honour prostituted ! Can honour 
be the savage resolution, the brutal fierce- 
ness of a revengeful spirit ? True honour is 
manifested in a steady, uniform train of actions, 
attended by justice, and directed by prudence. 
Is this the conduct of the duellist? Will justice 
support him in robbing the community of an 
able and useful member, and in depriving the 
poor of a benefactor ? Will it support him in 
preparing affliction for the widow's heart — in 
filling the orphan's eyes with tears? Will jus- 
tice acquit him for enlarging the punishment 
beyond the offence ? Will it permit him for, per- 
haps, a rash word that may admit of an apolo- 
gy, an unadvised, inconsiderate action that may 
be retrieved, or an injury that may be compen- 
sated, to cut off a man before his days be half 
numbered? and for a temporary fault inflict an 

* Mr. Horne, in the Island of St. Christophers, as 
council for the prosecution of Mr. Barbot for the death of Mr. 
Mills, 1753. Vide. E. Jerningham's Essay prefixed to his select 
Sermons of Boss.:et— Cr. 8 vo. 1801. or, State Trials vol. 10, p. 139. 



33 



endless punishment? — On the other hand, will 
prudence bear him out in risking an infamous 
death" as a murderer, which would be the 
case if our laws were properly put in execution,* 
" if he succeeds in the duel ? But, if he falls — 
will it plead his pardon at a more awful tribu- 
nal, for rushing into the presence of an offended 
God?" in defiance of his dispensations, and, 
"with all his imperfections on his head." 

"Duelling seems to be an unnatural graft 
upon genuine courage, and the growth of a 
barbarous age. The polite nations of Greece 
and Rome knew nothing of it: they reserved 
their bravery for the enemies of their country; 



* It is a circumstance much to be lamented by us, that though 
laws which prohibit duels exist in many of the states under the se- 
verest penalties, yet, as the jurisdiction of an individual state ex- 
tends no further than its own immediate territory, aggressors com- 
mitting the offence beyond the boundary line, are also considered 
as beyond the operation of its laws. Hence, duels are fought by 
the citizens of New York and Pennsylvania, on the shores of New 
Jersey ; and thus are necessary and well-meant laws evaded : nay, 
even when the issue of a duel proves fatal to one of the parties, 
the MURDERER is suffered to range at large, unpunished, unpur- 
sued. 



34 



and then were prodigal of their blood. These 
brave people set Honour up as the guardian 
genius of the public, to humanize their passions, 
to preserve their truth unblemished, and to 
teach them to value life only as useful to their 
country. The modern heroes dress it up like 
one of the demons of superstition, besmeared 
with blood, and delighting in human sacrifice." 
Against this irreligious and inhuman prac- 
tice, I have so recently expatiated in this 
place,* that I should not so soon again call 
your attention to it, were it not in compliance 
with the late public request of a large and tru- 
ly respectable association of our fellow citizens ; 
in consequence of a justly deplored occurrence, 
by which a virtuous and amiable family have 
suddenly been deprived of an affectionate 
friend, protector, and guide ; and our country, 
of a wise, vigilant, active, and illustrious states- 
man.! 

* In a sermon, preached March 18, 1804. 

| An attempt to delineate that uncommon assemblage of talents 
and virtues which formed his character, would be equally feeble 
and unnecessary, after those just, minute, and eloquent tributes of 
respect which have already been given to the world by so many 



35 



That so irrational and impious a custom, 
which originated in the early ages of igno- 
rance, superstition, and Gothic barbarism, 
should prevail and be conformed to, by men emi- 
nent for wisdom and integrity, in the present 
enlightened day, is, indeed, truly astonishing, i 

The decision of controversy by single com- 
bat, and the attestation of truth by what was 
called the Ordeal trial, were accommodated to 
the rude manners of an uncivilized and fero- 
cious people. But, when reason assumed her 
empire, when arts, industry, science, philoso- 
phy, and religion, began gradually to expand and 
illuminate the human mind, to restrain the indul- 
gence of the passions, to refine and elevate the 
affections, to polish the manners, and to puri- 
fy the heart; — it might naturally be supposed 
that a practice so absurd, so contrary to the 
principles of social union, of morality, and of re- 

of our most distinguished civilians and divines, particularly that 
which flowed from the benevolent heart, the sagacious head, 
and the fluent pen, of the Rev. Dr. J. Mason, who enjoyed the hon- 
ourable distinction of being appointed by the Society of Cincinnati, 
in New York, to pronounce an Oration commemorative of their 
revered President, Major Gen. Alexander Hamilton. 

E 



36 



ligion, would certainly have been suppressed 
andabhorred : and such, in all probability, would 
have been the case, had not the institution of 
Chivalry, originally benevolent and honourable 
in its principles, and expressly intended to res- 
train and abolish so pernicious and ferocious a 
custom, been carried to the opposite extreme of 
fantastic refinement and extravagant excess; 
which, though in some degree corrected through 
succeeding periods of time, still, in a qualified 
form, continues to produce occasionally the most 
fatal effects.* 



* " Humanity sprung from the bosom of Violence, and Relief 
from the hand of Rapacity. Those licentious and tyrannic nobles, 
who had been guilty of every species of outrage, and every mode 
of oppression, touched, at last, by a sense of natural equity, and 
swayed by the conviction of a common interest, formed associa- 
tions for the redress of private wrongs, and the preservation of 
public safety. So honourable was the origin of an institution gen- 
rally represented as whimsical ! 

" That the spirit of Chivalry sometimes rose to an extravagant 
height, and had often a pernicious tendency, must however be al- 
lowed. In Spain, under the influence of a romantic gallantry, it 
gave birth to a series of wild adventures, which have been deser- 
vedly ridiculed : in the train of Norman ambition, it extinguished 
the liberties of England, and deluged Italy in blood ; and at the 
call of Superstition, and as the engine of papal power, it desolated 
Asia under the banner of the Cross. But these ou^ht not to be 



37 



Frequent, yet ineffectual, have been the 
efforts made by the edicts of Kings, the de- 
cisions of Councils, and the requisitions of Ec- 
clesiastical Canons.* Neither the laws of God 



considered as arguments against an institution laudable in itself, 
and necessary at the time of its institution : and those who pretend 
to despise it, the advocates of ancient barbarism and ancient rusticity, 
ought to remember, that chivalry not only first taught mankind to 
carry the civilities of peace into the operations of war, and to min- 
gle politeness with the use of the sword, but roused the human 
soul from its lethargy, invigorated the human character, even while 
it softened it, and produced exploits which antiquity cannot par- 
allel. It is therefore entitled to our gratitude, though the point of 
honour, and the refinements in gallantry, its more doubtful effects, 
should be excluded from the improvements in modern manners." 
Russel's Hist, of Modern Europe, Let. XVIII. 
*Philip the fair,kingof France, in the thirteenth Century, appears 
to have been the first monarch who endeavoured to suppress this 
pernicious and fatal practice, which then existed under the appel- 
lation of judicial combat. The military spirit of the times, however, 
would not permit him to proceed further than a regulation of that 
mode of contest ; by which it was declared, that nothing was to be 
brought to that bloody issue, which could be determined by any 
other means. Henry the II, who succeeded Francis I — in 1547, 
published an edict prohibiting, under the severest penalties, the 
decision of controversy by duelling. During the reign of Henry 
IV, of France, the illustrious Sully exerted all his influence with 
that monarch, totally to abolish so ferocious a practice : accor- 
dingly, an edict for the severe punishment of duelling, was published 
at Blois in the year 1 602, and this edict was renewed, with additional 
severities, in 1 609. The purport of it was as follows : " Both chal- 
lenger and challenged, with their seconds, are made guilty of Isese 
majesty, and are to be punished with death, and confiscation of goods. 



33 



nor man, have hitherto been able to extinguish 
that false and frantic principle of imaginary- 
All the great officers and magistrates of France, military and civil, 
are required to publish and execute this edict in their several juris- 
dictions, and are empowered to judge the differences, which occa- 
sion duels. If the complainer of any affront refuse to accept the sa- 
tisfaction these officers appoint, or the offender refuse to comply 
with it, he is to be imprisoned." 

Vide, Cockburne on duelling, P. 344, and the autho- 
rities he quotes. 

The following extract is from Cockburne on duelling P. 343. 
" As modem duels began and were first indulged in France, so in 
no place have there been so many and so severe edicts against 
them, to which the government there has been forced by the con- 
tinual mischiefs which happened from them, and the great dispo- 
sition of the people towards them, which then was so great, that 
Mons. Montaigne says " he believes, if three Frenchmen were put 
into the Lybian desert, they would not be a month there 
without fighting ;" and Mons. Hardouin de Perefix, Bishop of 
Rhodes, observes, in his life of Henry IV, "that the madnessof duels 
seized the spirits of the nobility and gentry so much, that they lost 
more blood by their own hands in times of peace, than had been 
shed by their enemies in battle." 

In the reign of Lewis XIII, no less than three edicts were issued 
declaratory against duels. "In the year 1679," says the Rev. Mr. 
Moore, in a Treatise on this subject, "Lewis XIV, issued that famous 
proclamation, which effected more than all his predecessors could 
obtain, and which contributed in so great a degree to the suppres- 
sion of all regular and outrageous duels in France. Two points 
Seem more especially to have contributed to give stability to this 
edict — viz. the solemn agreement entered into 'by so many of the 
firincifial nobility and gentry of the kingdom " that they would 
never fight a duel under any pretence whatsoever," and the firmness 
of the Mngy in refusing all solicitations in behalf of the ojfmders" 



39 



honour, which hath so long pervaded, and still 
pervades the civilized world : nor will, I fear, 



"The challenger and challenged (if they accept) are, by this 
edict, declared liable to heavy fines, imprisonments,and confiscations, 
even if they proceed not to the combat ; and also seconds the 
same. But if fighting follows, the combatants are both to be put 
to death without pardon ; all their estates real and personal to be 
forfeited; and their bodies not to be allowed christian burial. If one 
fall in the combat, the process against his body and memory to be 
the same." 

Augustus, King of Poland, in 1712, published a severe edict 
against duelling consisting of sixty-two articles — for which, see 
Cockburne. In England, the great Sir Francis Bacon as strenu- 
ously exerted himself against duelling in the court of James I, as 
Sully did in that of Henry IV, and prohibitory proclamations were 
accordingly issued by that monarch. 

In the year 1654, Cromwell's parliament passed an ordinance "for 
preventing and punishing duels, and all provocations thereto ;" in 
which it was declared " that if any person should challenge or cause 
to be challenged, or accept, or knowingly carry a challenge to 
fight a duel, he should be committed to prison without bail for six 
months, and give security for his good behaviour for one whole 
year after. Persons challenged, not discovering it in twenty-four 
hours, to be deemed acceptors. Fighting a duel, where death 
should ensue, to be adjudged murder. Fighting a duel upon pre- 
ceding challenge, being a second, or assisting therein, though 
death should not ensue thereupon, to be banished for life within 
one month after conviction, and, in case of return, to suffer death. 
Persons using provoking words or gestures, to be indicted; and if 
convicted to be fined, bound to good behaviour, and to make 
reparation to the party injured, according to his quality and the 
nature of the offence." 

Parliamentary Hist. Vol. XX. P. 31 1. 
The high spirited cavaliers at the time of the Restoration, reviv- 



40 



its influence be destroyed, until reason shall 
assert and maintain her rights against the tyran- 



ed that disposition for duelling which had in some degree become 
dormant. Charles II, therefore issued the following proclamation. 
Charles R. 
"Whereas it is become too frequent, especially with persons 
of quality, under a vain pretence of honour, to take upon them to 
be the revengers of their private quarrels, by duel and single com- 
bat, which ought not be upon any pretence or provocation whatso- 
ever ; we, considering that the sin of murder is detestable before 
God, and this way of prosecuting satisfaction scandalous to the 
Christian religion, and a manifest violation of our laws and author- 
ity — out of our pious care to prevent unchristian and rash effusion 
of blood, do, by this our royal proclamation, strictly charge and 
command all our loving subjects of what quality soever, that they 
do not, either by themselves or by others, by message, word, wri- 
ting, or other ways or means, challenge, or cause to be challenged, 
any person or persons to fight in combat, or single duel, nor carry, 
accept, or conceal any such challenge or appointment, nor actually 
fight any such duel, with any of our subjects or others, or as a 
second, or otherwise accompany or become assistant therein. 
And we do hereby — to the intent that all persons may take care to 
prevent the dangers they may incur, by acting or assisting in any 
such duel — declare our royal pleasure, that we will not grant our 
pardon to any person or persons that shall fight, or be any way aid- 
ing or concerned in any duel, where any person shall be slain, or 
die of his wounds received therein ; but will leave all such persons 
to the utmost rigour and severity of the laws : and further, that we 
will not suffer or endure any persons to be or remain in our court, 
who shall presume to intercede in the behalf of any person or per- 
sons that shall offend contrary to this our proclamation. And for 
the better avoiding all such duels, we do hereby straightly charge 
and command all persons whatsoever, who shall receive or know 
of any challenge sent or delivered as aforesaid, that they do forthwith. 



41 



ny of fashion, and the dogmas of superstition ; 
and so modify and enlarge the commonly received 



give notice thereof to some of our privy council, or otherwise, to 
some justice of peace near the place, where such offence shall be 
committed; upon pain of our highest displeasure, and being left to 
be proceeded against according to the strictest rigour and severity 
of our laws. 

Given at our Court at Whitehall the 9th day of March, 1679. 
In the two and thirtieth year of our reign. 

London Gazette, March 11, 1679. 

A Bill against duelling was brought into the House of Com- 
mons in the year 1713, on the recommendation of Queen Anne, 
who, in her speeeh from the throne, told the parliament " the im- 
pious practice of duelling requires some speedy and effectual 
remedy." 

Such were some of the efforts made by the civil power, in dif- 
ferent countries and at different times, to suppress this barbarous 
and bloody practice ; but their inefficiency generally arose from the 
elevated station of the combatants, (duelling being chiefly practi- 
ced by the higher and most polished orders in society), and their 
consequent influence in obtaining pardons, which were so frequent- 
ly'and easily procured, as to render the laws on that head nugatory. 

Nor was ecclesiastical authority wanting, to discountenance and 
abolish so shameful an outrage against the most essential princi- 
ples of civilization and religion. 

The Church, at various periods, issued her Canons, and fulminat- 
ed her decrees, against an act so diametrically opposed to the dic- 
tates of Reason and the precepts of Christianity. — The Council of 
Trent passed a very strict Canon against all manner of duelling, de- 
claring it to be " a detestable custom, introduced by the Devil for 
the destruction Loth of body and soul ; inhibiting the duel through- 
out the Christian world, as most unbecoming Christians, excom- 
municating not only all those who fought themselves, but all their 
associates, and even the spectators of the battle ; confiscating all 



42 



principles of Honour, as to render a participation 
in a duel, either as a principal or secondary 
agent, disgraceful and ignominious:* and until 

their goods, and denying Christian burial to those who were killed 
in a duel, as being self murderers in fact. All advisers, supporters, 
witnesses, or those in any shape concerned, are likewise to be ex- 
communicated. Princes also, who connive at duels, are to be de- 
prived of all temporal power, jurisdiction, and dominion over the 
places, where they have permitted a duel to be fought." 

"Detestabilis duellorum usus fabricante diabolo introductus, 
ut cruenta. corporum morte, animarum etiam perniciem lucretur, 
ex christiano orbe penitus exterminetur: imperator, duces, prin- 
cipes, marchiones, comites, et quocunque alio nomine domini 
temporales, qui locum ad monomachiam in terris suis inter 
christianos concesserint, eo ipso sint excommunicati, ac juris- 
dictione et dominio civitatis, castri aut loci, in quo vel apud 
quern, duellum fieri premiserint, quod ab eclesia obtinent, pri- 
vati intelligantur : etsi feudaliasint,directis dominis statim acquiran- 
tur. Qui vero pugnamcommiserint, et quieorum "pauini" vocan- 
tur excommunicationis, ac omnium bonorum suorum proscriptionis 
ac perpetuse infamize pcenam incurrant ; et ut homicidce juxta sa- 
cros canones puniri debeant. Et si in ipso conflictu decesserint, 
perpetuo careant eccelesiastica. sepultura: — illi etiam, quiconcilium 
in causa duelli tarn in jure quam facto dederint, aut alia quacunque 
ratione ad id quemquam suaserint, necnon spectatores, excommu- 
nicationis ac perpetuse maledictionis vinculo teneantur; non ob- 
stante quocunque privilegio seu prava consuetudine, etiam imme- 
morabili." 

Council of Trent, Session 25. Chap. 19. 

*Since the death of Gen. Hamilton, an idea has been suggested 
by Major General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Vice President 
General of the Society of Cincinnati, in a letter to the standing com- 
mittee of the State Society of Cincinnati in New York, which, if 
adopted, would prove as probable a means of suppressing the shock- 



43 



religion shall be permitted so to purify the heart, 
as to restrain and finally extinguish those feroci- 
ous passions and vicious propensities, which are 
equally opposed to our happiness in this world, 
and in that to which we are all rapidly hast- 
ening. 

Should, however, so happy a revolution in 
sentiment and manners ever be effected, with 
what wonder, regret, and astonishment will the 



ing practice of duelling as any which could be devised. Such a, 
plan, originating in a military association, would most assuredly have 
much influence in the community, and powerfully aid the operation 
of any laws or resolutions which might be framed by civil authority. 
"Is there no way" says the General, "of abolishing throughout the 
union this absurd and barbarous custom, to the observance of which 
he* fell a victim ? Duelling is no criterion of bravery ; for I have seen 
cowards fight duels ; and I am convinced real courage may often be 
better shewn in the refusal than in the acceptance of a challenge. If 
the society of Cincinnati were to declare their abhorrence of this prac- 
tice, and the determination of all its members to diseourage it as 
far as they had influence, and on no account either to accept or send 
a challenge, it might tend to annul this odious custom, and would 
be a tribute of respect to the sentiments and memory of our late 
illustrious Chief." 

These are the correct and judicious sentiments of a gentleman 
whose courage, liberality, honour, and patriotism are acknowledged 
and unquestionable. 

• Maj. General Alexander Hamilton, President of the Society of Cincin- 
nati. 

F 



44 



adoption of so savage and murderous a medium 
of redress for insults and injuries be viewed? by 
which, an insinuation, an unguarded word, or 
even a look, compels a man, under the penalty of 
public reprobation, ridicule, and contempt, to 
rush into the field ; and there, either embrue his 
hand in a brother's blood, or impiously shed 
his own. * 



*Brydone, in his Tour through Sicily and Malta, Vol. 1. Let. 
XV T. says "Perhaps Malta is the only country in the worM, 
where duelling is permitted by law. As their whole establishment 
is originally founded on the wild and romantic principles of Chi- 
valry, they have ever found it too inconsistent with these principles 
to abolish duelling. He relates an instance of a young man, who, 
for refusing to accept a challenge, was condemned to make 
amende honourable, in the great church of St. John, for forty- 
five days successively ; then to be confined in a dungeon without 
light for five years, after which he was to remain prisoner in the 
castle for life. The unfortunate young man, who received the of- 
fence, was likewise in disgrace, as he had not an opportunity of 
wiping it out by the blood of his adversary. If the legislature," 
continues Mr. Brydone, " in other countries punished with equal 
rigour those who do fight, as it does in this, those who do not, I 
believe we should soon have an end of duelling. But I should im- 
agine the punishment for fighting ought never to be a capital one* 
but rather something ignominious ; and the punishment for not 
fighting should always be capital, or at least some severe corporal 
punishment^ for ignominy will have as little effect on the person 
who is willing to submit to the appellation of a coward, as the fear 
of death on one who makes it his glory to despise it." 



45 



What gross infatuation, it will be said, what 
blind deference for a custom to be expected on- 
ly in savage life, must have influenced a peo- 
ple, in other respects polished and refined, to 
resort to so unjust and shocking a mode of de- 
ciding controversies! by which truth could not 
be ascertained, the offended and not the offen- 
der might suffer, and, if the latter be punished, 
it might be in a degree far beyond the nature 
of the offence, inadequate to its enormity, or, 
perhaps, in no degree at all. Nay, by which 
an envious, revengeful, or malicious character, 
might force a man, amiable in his disposition, 
eminent for his talents, and in the highest degree 
useful to the community — at the same time op- 
posed in principle to the barbarous custom, 
to risk his life, rather than bear the imputation 
of cowardice, or encounter 

" The world's dread laugh, 

Which scarce the firm Philosopher can scorn.'* 

Reason indignantly revolts at the institu- 
tion; and Religion shrinks back with hor- 
ror, and trembles at its impious and infuriated 
decrees. She, heavenly messenger of peace* 



46 



good will, and love, in directing our steps to the 
realms of bliss, breathes nought but mildness, 
benevolence, and truth; endeavouring by her 
precepts to purify our spirits, and thereby to 
qualify us to associate with the beatified in- 
habitants of Heaven. Her still, small, soothing 
voice, charms the agitated bosom into silence 
and repose ; and calms the boisterous billows of 
passion, with the irresistible authority of the 
celestial mandate, "Peace! be still.*" She in- 
structs us to "give no offence in any thing; f" 
to "love as brethren," to "be courteous; "$ to 
"seek peace and pursue it;"|| to "follow peace 
with all men;"§ "not to sow discord among 
brethren;"** that "it is an honour for a man 
to cease from strife ;"ff that "the discretion of a 
man defereth his anger, and, it is his glory to 
pass over a transgression;" tJ that "it is good 
and pleasant for brethren to dwell together in 
unity;" ||j| and she pronounces a "blessing up- 
on peace makers, who shall be called the 

*Mark 4. 39. |2 Cor. 6. 3. f I Pet. 3. 8. || Ps. 34. 14. 
§ Heb. 12. 14. **Prov. 6. 19. ft Prov. 20.3. jJProv. 19. 11. 
IIHPs. 133. 1. 



> 47 

I 
children of God."* She teaches us to "re- 
compense to no man evil for evil;"f to "be 
kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving 
one another, " (if any man have a quarrel, or 
offendeth so as to give cause for a quarrel,) 
" even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven 
us;"J "being reviled to bless, being perse- 
cuted to suffer, being defamed to entreat; |] 
to love our enemies, to bless those who curse 
us, to do good to those who hate us, and to 
pray for those who despitefully use us, and per- 
secute us;"$ that "if we forgive men their 
tresspasses, our heavenly father will also for- 
give us ; but if we forgive not men their tres- 
passes, neither will our Father forgive our tres- 
passes."** "Let your moderation be known 
unto all men;"ff and, "say not thou I will re- 
compense evil, but wait thou on the Lord and 
he shall save thee, "ft "He who revengeth, shall 
find vengeance from the Lord, and he will sure- 
ly keep his sins in remembrance. Forgive thy 
neighbour the hurt which he hath done unto 

*Mat. 5. 9. fRom. 12. 17. f Eph. 4. 32. || 1 Cor. 4. 12. 

13. §Mat. 5. 44. **Mat. 6. 14. i5. ft Phil. 4. 5. ii Pkov. 
20. 22. 



48 



thee, so shall thy sins also be forgiven when 
thou prayest. One man beareth hatred against 
another, and doth he seek pardon from the 
Lord? He sheweth no mercy to a man who is 
like himself; and doth he ask forgiveness of his 
own sins? Remember thy end, and let enmity 
cease; remember corruption and death, and 
abide in the commandments. Remember the 
commandments, and bear no malice to thy 
neighbour; remember the covenant of the 
Highest."* "Thou shalt not kill."t "Your 
blood of your lives will I require ; at the hand of 
every man's brother will I require the life of man." 
Such are the heavenly precepts of re* 
ligion; while the imperious dictates of that 
frenzied phantom, modern honour, instigates 
to conduct diametrically opposite : she teaches, 
not to bear injuries with patience, not to forgive, 
but to resent them; not to leave vengeance to 
the justice of God, but, to execute vengeance 
ourselves, to 

" Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod ;" 

to endeavour to murder and destroy our 
fellow creatures, if they offend us, even for 

Ecclus. 28. 1— 7. fExo. 20. 13. J Gen. 9. 5. 



49 



"trifles, light as air" — otherwise, that we must 
be despised by all men, and contemptuously- 
excluded from the respect and esteem of our 
fellow mortals. 

Judge now, Brethren, which of these in- 
structors is most likely to give true dignity to 
the human character, and to promote your tem- 
poral and eternal interests. 

And, if neither the dictates of reason, 
the persuasions of religion, nor the ab- 
surdity of those impious principles of false 
honour, which involve men in the guilt 
both of voluntary and intended Suicide and 
Murder y * (unquestionably incurred by the du- 

* " Whenever two persons in cool blood meet and fight on 
a precedent quarrel, and one of them is killed, the other 
is guilty of murder ; and cannot help himself by alleging that he 
was first struck by the deceased, or that he had often declined to meet 
him, and was prevailedontodoitby his importunity ; that it was his on- 
ly intent to vindicate his reputation ; or that he meant not to kill, 
but only to disarm his adversary. For since he deliberately engag- 
ed in an act highly unlawful, in defiance of the laws, he must at 
his peril abide the consequences thereof. And from hence it 
clearly follows, that if two persons quarrel over night, and appoint 
to fight the next day, or quarrel in the morning, and agree to fight 
in the afternoon ; or such a considerable time after, by which, in 
common intendment, it must be presumed that the blood was cool- 



50 

ellist,) — If none of these powerful motives 
can restrain him, let him listen to the voice of 
humanity — let him consider the duty 
which he owes to society ; and the unmerited 
misery into which he may suddenly plunge the 
innocent and virtuous relatives and dependants 
of his unfortunate antagonist. Having satiated 
his Revenge for a supposed injury; his Jeal- 
ousy of his superior success ; or his Envy of his 
unrivalled and acknowledged talents ; — let him 
view him as the victim of his resentment, 
prostrate on the earth, weltering in his blood, 
and writhing under the excruciating agony of a 
mortal wound. Let him follow him from " the 
field of blood," to the chamber of death — see him 
in the last agonizing moments of dissolution, 
surrounded by his friends — his distracted wife 
bending over his almost lifeless frame — and, 
perhaps, a group of helpless children swelling 
the tide of woe with the most heart-rending 
sobs and lamentations. 

ed, and then they meet and fight, and one kill the other, he is 
guilty of murder. 

Hawkins's Pleas of the Crown. B. 1. C. XXXI. 



51 



Just and Omnipotent Creator, and Gov- 
ernor of the Universe! Is there no cho- 
sen vengeance But I forbear — Christi- 
anity seals my lips, and constrains me to 
leave the vindictive, blood-thirsty perpetrator 
of the horrid deed, to the pangs of an awaken- 
ing conscience, and to the mercy of his God! 

Almighty Father! Protect the bereaved, 
disconsolate Widow! — protect her helpless, fa- 
therless Children! 

Alas ! The affectionate Husband, the tender, 
protecting Father, the invaluable Member of 
the Community, groans out his spirit; leaving 
them to bewail the sacrifice of his life, at the 
idolatrous altar of False Honour and Imaginary 
Rectitude ! 

Such, Brethren, are the irrational and irreli- 
gious principles ; and such are often the fatal 
consequences of A DUEL. 

Its recent occurrence among us, which hath 
thrown a gloom over our unfortunate country, 
from a just consciousness of her irreparable 
loss, is thus eloquently commented upon by a 



52 

learned and amiable Prelate of our church,* 
who attended the distinguished suf- 
ferer in his last moments, and adminis- 
tered to him, the most sacred consolation of 
our Holy Religion, f 

*The Right Rev. Dr. Benjamin Moore, Bishop of the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church in the State of New York. 

t " I froceeded to converse with him on the subject of his recei- 
ving the Communion, and told him, that with respect to the quali- 
fications of those who wished to become partakers of that Holy Or- 
diance, inquiries could not be made in language more expressive 
than that which was used by our Church. "Do you sincerely re- 
pent of your past sins? Have you a lively faith in God's mercy 
through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of the death of 
Christ ? And are you disposed to live in love and charity with all 
men ?" He lifted up his hands and said, "With the utmost sin- 
cerity of heart, I can answer those questions in the affirmative. — 
I have no ill will against Col. Burr. I met him with a fixed resolu- 
tion to do him no harm — I forgive all that ha*s happened." " I then 
observed to him, that the terrors of the divine law were to be an- 
nounced to the obdurate and impenitent ; but that the consolations 
of the Gospel were to be offered to the humble and contrite heart ; 
that I had no reason to doubt his sincerity, and would proceed im- 
mediately to gratify his wishes. The Communion was then ad- 
ministered, which he received with great devotion, and his heart 
afterwards appeared to be perfectly at rest. I saw him again this 
morning, when, with his last faltering words, he expressed a 
strong confidence in the mercy of God, through the intercession 
of the Redeemer. I remained with him until 2 o'clock this af- 
ternoon, when death closed the awful scene — he expired without a 
struggle, and almost without a groan." 

Bishop Moore's Letter to the Editor of the Evening Post. 



53 



" By reflecting, " says the good Bishop, 
" on this melancholy event, let the humble Be- 
liever be encouraged ever to hold fast that pre- 
cious faith, which is the only source of true 
consolation in the last extremity of nature. Let 
the Infidel be persuaded to abandon his oppo- 
sition to that Gospel, which the strong, inquisi- 
tive, and comprehensive mind of a HAMIL- 
TON embraced, in his last moments, as the 
truth from Heaven. Let those who are dispo- 
sed to justify the practice of duelling, be indu- 
ced, by this simple narrative, to view with ab- 
horrence, that custom which has occasioned an 
irreparable loss to a worthy and most afflicted 
family ; which has deprived his friends of a be- 
loved companion, his profession of one its 
brightest ornaments, and his country of a 
great statesman and a real patriot." 

Now to God the Father, &c. 



POSTSCRIPT. 

The circular Letter and Memorial of the State Society of Cin- 
cinnati, and of the American Revolution Society, in South Caro- 
lina, on the subject of duelling, having appeared during the print- 
ing of this Discourse, and after the note in page 42 was put to the 
press, the author, though sensible of the apparent irregularity of 
arrangement, cannot resist the desire of thus publicly expressing 
the high degree of pleasure he experienced on perusing those do- 
cuments ; and of declaring his ardent hope, that the truly laudable 
and exemplary exertion thus made in South Carolina, will be imita- 
ted by the other States in the Union. He trusts their citizens will 
cordially unite in opposing so increasing, so destructive an evil; 
and resolutely determine, by a joint and vigorous effort, to abolish 
a practice, the absurdity of which is a just reproach to us as men, 
and its impiety a daring violation of our principles as Christians. 

It is indeed "devoutly to be wished," (and the proceedings in 
South Carolina inspire the hope,) that those who exercise the le- 
gislative and executive authorities will now become duly sensible 
of the weight and importance of the subject, and enact such laws 
as will convince us they are in earnest in their opposition — laws 
which will operate on the cause as well as the effect, and thereby 
a protect the fame and feelings of the innocent and insulted per- 
sons'—Laws which cannot possibly be evaded by any man, let his 
station in society be what it may; and which, by the severity of 
their penalties, will compel universal obedience. 



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